The Babysitting Fiasco
by quicksilversquared
Summary: Alya and Nino aren't actually supposed to be pushing off their babysitting duties onto Marinette in favor of going on extra dates, but try telling them that. But after a poorly-timed akuma attack and a chance encounter set off a domino effect...well, they couldn't get away with it forever.
1. Chapter 1

_a/n: So this was inspired after seeing Alya and Nino repetitively dump their babysitting duties off onto Marinette, who we've already seen overworked and overwhelmed because all of her responsibilities and who definitely doesn't have time to take on what are clearly meant to be Alya's and Nino's responsibilities just because they want to go on yet more dates. Like...that just annoyed me._

_So of course, I wrote a fic fixing it._

* * *

Marinette took one glance at the clock as she headed for the stairs of the Grand Paris and groaned. She had hoped when the akuma of the day had popped up that they would be able to defeat it quickly so that she could get back to her normal work again, but no such luck. Instead, the akuma had taken _longer _than usual to defeat, and now there was absolutely no _way_ that she could babysit for Alya and Nino _and_ finish the homework that she needed done the next day, not unless she stayed up late to work on it and she _really_ didn't want to do that again.

On top of all of that, her phone was dead, so she couldn't text Alya and let her know _right now_. By the time she ran home and got her charger, it would be practically time for Marinette to be over at Alya's house to take over watching the three kids. It would be too late for Alya to find someone else to babysit so that she and Nino could go out, and then they would be irritated with Marinette _again_.

Groaning more, Marinette picked up the pace. Maybe she would have to drop by Alya's apartment to let her know in person instead of texting- that might be faster, actually- but what if Alya wasn't there because she was out after chasing the akuma for the Ladyblog? Or what if Alya thanked her for coming and ran off before Marinette got the chance to say anything? She couldn't afford to turn in any more assignments late, and it wasn't smart to be running low on sleep, not when Marinette had to be alert and quick-thinking when battling akumas. No, she would have to go home and maybe use her mom's phone to text Alya first, and she would just have to deal with her best friend's annoyance later, but at least Marinette would be able to get her homework done and not fail and get grounded for a dozen years and-

"Hi, Marinette!"

Marinette skidded to a stop and turned around to see Alya's mom standing there by the stairwell door, apparently on her break. It took a second for that to sink in, and then Marinette perked up. _Perfect! _For once, her Ladybug luck was kicking in."Madam Césaire! Hi! You're, like, just the perfect person for me to run into right now!"

Madam Césaire laughed. "The perfect person? And why is that?"

"Alya asked yesterday if I could babysit for her and Nino again tonight and I said yes but I _just_ realized that I _really_ can't because I'm super crazy behind on my homework and I _would_ text her but my phone is dead and by the time I get home, it'll be _really_ late to let them know-" Marinette took a deep breath and finished- "so do you think that you could text her? I'll text her myself when I get my phone a bit charged, too, but I don't want to leave her hanging."

Madam Césaire considered Marinette's phone as she waved it in the air. "Actually, I can give you my phone charger so that you can text her yourself. I've got it right here, actually- my phone can finish charging later. Just give it to one of the wait staff and tell them it's mine once you're done."

Marinette perked up. "Oh, that's even better! Thank you, Madam Césaire!"

"It's no problem at all." Madam Césaire handed Marinette the charger with a smile. "I've got to go, but it was nice talking to you, Marinette."

Marinette waved good-bye, then went to go find an outlet to plug in her phone. It didn't take long for her phone to charge up enough for her to turn it on and open her messages.

_Marinette: I'm so so so sorry but I can't babysit tonight! I'm REALLY behind on my homework and I know that I wouldn't be able to get it done with the twins and Chris running around! :( :( :(_

It didn't take long to get a response. Marinette winced before opening it.

_Alya: boo HW! You're always behind, aren't you? No worries, though, we got someone else to accept last-minute. Go catch up so that you can actually babysit next time!_

Marinette cringed at that. She _was_ always behind on homework, but it wasn't exactly her fault. She was a full-time superhero so she had less time to start with, and then when she missed class then she had to learn the material on her own, which could be hard sometimes. Alya and Nino were only _part_-time superheroes, so they weren't getting their normal lives interrupted _anywhere_ near as often. _They_ had plenty of free time. Marinette did not.

...Marinette also had a _really_ hard saying no, which was why this kept happening in the first place.

_Marinette: OK I'm glad that things worked out! Say hi to the girls and Chris for me!_

With that sent, Marinette unplugged her phone and pushed herself up off the floor. She didn't have any time to waste, really. There were several assignments and papers that she had to get done _tonight_, and then she had to start getting ahead on her homework again so she wouldn't be scrambling to finish last minute.

Sometimes being a superhero _really_ stunk.

* * *

Marlena Césaire had been having a relatively normal day. It was a typical weekday workday at the hotel, with only a handful of hotel guests having lunch in-house and maybe twice that number of off-the-street customers. Then there was a slight lull before dinner where all of the chefs could get some prep work done, and Marlena took advantage of the calm to duck out and take her break. She always did a bit of reading on her break and grabbed a snack, relaxing before the madness that was dinner rush and checking in with her kids to make sure that they were all right.

She had to hope that Otis would have a better work schedule soon. As head chef at the Grand Paris, she had to work most evenings so that the kitchen would run smoothly, and at the moment her husband had to work one evening a week and be on-call two other evenings. That meant that at least one evening per week the kids were home alone and Nora and Alya had to split babysitting duties, which wasn't entirely ideal. It _did_ give them some feel for responsibility, which was good, but Nora had more and more commitments as she grew older and it wasn't fair to hold her back, and Alya had homework to do and it was easier to finish if she wasn't trying to keep Ella and Etta in line.

The phone call home went smoothly, and as her break came to an end she was feeling good about the evening. Alya had things under control at home, and she could focus on making the hotel kitchen run smoothly.

And then Alya's friend Marinette went zipping by, and after a quick exchange Marlena was left reeling. Alya had been having Marinette do her babysitting _for_ her? More specifically, she had been having Marinette do babysitting for her _and_ Nino, all without asking their parents first? This was the first time Marlena had heard of the arrangement.

Marlena liked knowing exactly what was going on at home and who was watching her girls. She liked knowing where her daughters were. Nora could come and go as she pleased- she was old enough, after all- but Alya needed to tell her parents where she was. And she _wasn't_.

(On top of that, somehow Marlena doubted that Alya and Nino were _paying _Marinette for babysitting for them, and considering that Alya at least was getting a significant bonus to her allowance for babysitting- well, that just wasn't right.)

She Was Not Happy.

Alya was taking advantage of being home alone with the twins to go on secret dates with Nino, that much was clear. And she was taking advantage of her friends in order to do that. Marinette had seemed quite frantic when she dashed by, and it wasn't okay for Alya to be asking her friends to babysit when they were struggling to keep up with their homework, even if she _had_ asked her parents for permission first.

So now she had to decide what to do. Marinette clearly hadn't realized that she had told on Alya, so Marlena could catch her daughter red-handed. If she got off early tonight- which was possible, she could ask her second-in-command to take over because of a family emergency- she could get home early and see if Alya was gone.

Which she would be, Marlena knew. When Marinette sent her phone charger back in with a server, she had also passed along the message that a different friend- Alya hadn't said who- would be babysitting instead. That was very, very useful information, though also worrying.

Marlena had met Marinette before and seen her with kids. She was trustworthy, if perhaps a little easily overwhelmed. But she _didn't_ know anything about this other person. Who knew if they were trustworthy or could deal well with children?

So Marlena went to her second-in-command and told him that she would have to leave a couple hours early, timed so that Alya would most certainly be out with Nino and not yet back. It was unfortunate and not a habit that she wanted to get into- she needed to take her duties as head chef responsibly, after all- but it was a bit of a family emergency.

So a couple hours earlier than usual, Marlena clocked out and headed home. Her apartment door swung open to reveal three wide-eyed kids listening to a girl who Marlena had most certainly _never_ met before, who was in the middle of telling them about how she had saved a whole train's worth of people on an amusement park ride in London after a safety feature on the ride broke.

...yeah, that sounded perfectly believable. _Not_. Marlena raised an eyebrow and let the door click shut loudly.

The voices in the other room abruptly cut off and four pairs of eyes swung towards her. Ella and Etta lit up at once, jumping up and running over to her for hugs. Chris waved. The stranger babysitter turned pale.

_Interesting_. Did she perhaps know that Alya wasn't supposed to be having her friends babysit for her? It was strange that Marinette _didn't_, then.

"Madam Césaire! Hi, I'm Lila Rossi, Alya's friend," the girl said, recovering and hopping up to greet her. "She didn't tell me that you would be returning early tonight!"

"And Alya didn't tell me that she was having her friends babysit for her," Marlena said, ignoring the girl's hand for the moment. Something about this girl wasn't sitting right with her. Maybe it was the lie that she had overheard as she came in, maybe it was Lila's reaction to seeing Marlena, maybe it was-

Wait.

_Lila Rossi?_ Marlena remembered Alya talking about this girl, actually. There had been some _really_ questionable stories that Alya had conveyed, and Marlena had assumed that the clearly unbelievable details were mostly thanks to Alya's tendency to embellish and exaggerate. Now, though...

It seemed that Alya was probably relaying the stories pretty much as told, and the problem lay with the _initial_ teller of the (clearly untrue) tales. The initial teller, who had apparently been trusted to watch children.

Lila clutched at her shirt and sighed dramatically. After cooking for actors both established and aspiring for _years_, Marlena could recognize acting when she saw it, and this girl was most certainly making up a story on the spot. "Yes, well, it was just the once- apparently Alya and Nino had reservations at this restaurant nearby that they _really_ wanted to go to but the staff messed up on their reservation date and put it _today_ rather than on the weekend, and they either had to give up the reservation or get a substitute sitter and they had _so_ been looking forward to it, so of _course_ I offered to step in. They must have forgotten to tell you! School's been so busy lately, so of course that's understandable."

Marinette had said something about babysitting _again_. Lila was claiming that this was a one-time thing and that she had been lined up to help out ages in advance. They were _completely _contradictory claims.

Marlena knew who she believed, and it wasn't the girl in front of her. Just in case, though, she would be asking the kids in front of her once Lila was gone.

"Well, thank you for coming in," Marlena said rather than arguing with this girl. If she was right and Lila was a liar- which was pretty obvious, honestly, Marlena dealt with celebrity clients on a near-daily basis and she knew that they wouldn't be falling over themselves to give favors to some 14-year-old girl that they had met _once_, and ambassadors weren't going to be meeting up with all sorts of celebrities _anyway_\- then there would be no point in arguing. "I can take care of the kids now. Alya can pay you whatever she's promised at school in the morning."

"Oh, no pay needed!" Lila said cheerfully. "I volunteered to do it. I love working with kids- I volunteered a bunch of time at an orphanage when I was in Africa for a summer as part of my charity organization for disadvantaged kids."

...well, that explained why Alya thought that this Lila character was an acceptable emergency babysitter.

"That's very nice," Marlena said politely. "Do you need to call someone for pickup?"

Lila shook her head. "No, I'll take the bus. It's not that late yet. Bye-bye, guys!" she called, waving to the three kids. "Good night!"

"Bye, Lila!"

And with one last wave, Lila was out the door. Marlena waited for a minute to make sure that she wasn't coming back, and then she turned to the kids.

"All right," Marlena said, placing her hands on her hips and surveying the three of them. "I have some questions for you three, and I'd like some answers."

* * *

By the time Nino and Alya returned (_far_ too late for collège students to be out, _especially_ without their parents' knowledge), Marlena had interrogated the younger kids and found out that Alya had been going out with Nino instead of babysitting every week, and Lila had babysat for her three times in total, not just the once. Marinette had done all of the other times, including some times when the twins were with Nora but Marinette had babysat Chris for Nino, or when Chris was at home with his parents but the twins were with Marinette.

She suspected, based off of what Lila had said, that Marinette had been paid for exactly zero of that. That would be coming out of Alya's allowance so that Marinette would actually be compensated for the not insignificant amount of time that she had spent roped into babysitting.

Marlena had called up Otis to let him know what was going on, and he had come home early, too. Then she called up Nino's parents. Just as she had suspected, they had thought that their two sons were at home, not over at the Césaire apartment, and they were none too happy to find out that Nino had been sneaking out behind their backs.

Twenty minutes before Otis would have normally returned home, Marlena heard Alya's keys turn in the lock. She and Otis exchanged a look, sitting up at the table and fixing the door with a stern stare.

Alya and Nino stepped in, heads together as they laughed about something. They were clearly absorbed with each other, so Marlena cleared her throat pointedly. Their heads whipped towards her at once, and she had the great pleasure of watching the blood drain from their faces.

"You two were meant to be babysitting _separately _tonight," Otis started sternly. "Each at your own homes. Instead, you had a friend that we hadn't ever met watching all _three_ kids. Explain yourselves. _Now_."

* * *

Marinette came into school feeling _really_ good. The homework that she had to get done hadn't taken her _quite_ as long as she had expected (though she still wouldn't have been able to get it done if she had been babysitting), so she had gone ahead and gotten ahead on a couple other assignments, knocking out most of an essay and doing some research for her Civics class. It put her in a pretty good position, and she had even gotten to go to bed on time for the first time in nearly a _week_.

So she was well-rested, caught up, and relaxed. Marinette had plans to continue her work over lunch, since she was on a roll with both research and her essay, and then maybe she could actually be able to do some designing for the first time in-

In-

Well, she had done some sketching between classes, sure, but she hadn't gotten to sit down and _design_ for a while. Things had just been too busy.

Marinette was not expecting Alya to storm in, looking miserable and upset and a little bit angry. She slammed down into her seat, scowling.

"Someone must have ratted me and Nino out to my parents!"

..._pardon?_

"What?"

Alya's face was red. "I got home last night and my parents were already home and they were _furious_ that I had been going out on dates with Nino and having other people babysit for us- well, having you and Lila babysit, at least- without telling them, and now I'm grounded and not allowed to go on any dates with Nino for at least a _month_ and I'm having my allowance chopped- and when I was so close to saving up for a new camera for reporting, too- and there's no _way_ that they just _happened_ to come home early!"

Marinette's gut twisted as she absorbed that onslaught of information. She knew _exactly_ how Madam Césaire found out about Alya's stand-in babysitters, and she felt so, so guilty about it. But she- she hadn't _known!_ It had been reasonable to assume that Alya and Nino's parents knew about their dates and substitute babysitters, right? The two of them had been going out and staying out past dark, and if Marinette were in their shoes, her parents would _definitely _know what she was up to. They'd be _super_ upset about her going behind their back to do stuff.

(Superhero activities excluded, of course.)

And Alya had _definitely _never told Marinette that her parents didn't know about the whole arrangement.

"Like, we've been doing this just fine for _months_, and we've been getting back a good half-hour before my dad gets off to be safe, just like Lila suggested," Alya continued, and Marinette frowned. _Lila_ had suggested it? Lila hadn't even been at school when Nino and Alya started shirking their babysitting duties to go out on dates. "And we bribe the girls and Chris not to mention having a different babysitter with extra dessert. And then all of a sudden, _this_ happens."

"You were coming back before your parents even before Lila got back to Paris," Marinette pointed out, frowning. "And at the same time, too."

Alya snorted, waving that off. "Text messages exist, silly. I was in contact with Lila the entire time she was traveling, because I wanted to hear about all of the cool stuff she was up to! When I told her about having to babysit and not getting to have enough dates with Nino, she suggested that I just ask someone else to babysit. And I knew my parents wouldn't approve, so _that_ was when she suggested giving ourselves plenty of buffer time." Alya sighed. "It worked really well! Until yesterday. I can't believe it! We got betrayed!"

Nino slid into the seat in front of Alya. He looked exhausted, too. "Babe, I told you before, it might just have been really bad timing. Maybe it was a slow night at the Grand Paris and your mom decided to come home early. I've been around your place enough to hear her saying that she'd like to be at home with you guys more."

Alya slumped in her seat. "Maybe. But Lila said that she told my mom that it was just the once and she made an excuse for us, but mom seemed to know that there had been a _lot _of times."

"She might have asked the kids directly, and they probably told her everything," Nino countered. "Seriously, Al. No one told on us."

Marinette swallowed hard as Nino patted Alya's hand comfortingly. She still looked like a stormcloud, and was unlikely to calm down soon. Lila came in then, going straight to Alya and immediately lamenting about what had happened the previous night. Marinette tuned her out, feeling dread twisting in her gut.

She really should admit to accidentally telling Madam Césaire, but Alya was clearly _furious_ about her bonus dates coming to an end and all of the associated punishments that came with her parents finding out. On top of that, she and Marinette had been going through some rough spots lately because Marinette still refused to accept Lila and Alya refused to entertain the idea that Lila was a liar. Marinette didn't want to admit to her mistake only for Alya to give her the cold shoulder for who-knew-how-long.

The rock sat in Marinette's stomach all morning as Alya stewed next to her. She hadn't- she hadn't _known_, she hadn't _meant_ for this to happen, she just wanted to make sure that Alya knew that she couldn't do the babysitting with enough time to find someone else. Marinette had tried to do the _responsible_ thing, and it had backfired.

She _should _do the responsible thing and 'fess up, too. But Marinette was scared.

"You seem distracted, love," Mrs. Cheng commented as Marinette picked at her lunch listlessly. "Anything that you want to talk about?"

Marinette considered it and then decided that yeah, she _definitely_ needed to talk to her mom. It would help to have a second opinion. So she started explaining. Partway through, her dad came up to eat, too, and paused to listen in, leaning on the counter as he ate.

"I know I _should_ tell her," Marinette finished miserably. "But..."

"Well, if you want my opinion- normally I would say yes, you need to tell Alya," Mr. Dupain said, exchanging a look with Mrs. Cheng, and Marinette wilted. "But not in this case, unless Alya admits that she was in the wrong for not telling you that she didn't have her parents' permission first. From what you're telling me, it sounds like she and Nino are ignoring that they put themselves in that position. She would blame her punishment entirely on you and _that_ isn't fair."

Marinette blinked in surprise and looked to her mom. Mrs. Cheng was nodding, too.

"I wouldn't have been comfortable with you doing babysitting for Alya and Nino if we had known that her parents didn't approve," Mrs. Cheng told Marinette. "And frankly, I was going to say something about it soon. We've noticed that you've seemed pretty stretched thin lately and picking up unpaid babysitting _definitely_ wasn't helping."

"And Alya knows that you have trouble saying _no_," Mr. Dupain added. "And it sounds like they took advantage of that. And they took advantage of it _quite_ a bit."

Marinette paused, then nodded because they were _right_. She had been more stressed every time that her friends begged her to babysit because they '_so_ wanted to go on this cool date'. She didn't want to disappoint them, so she accepted unless she _really_ couldn't spare any time.

"This will teach them a lesson about honesty, hopefully," Mrs. Cheng added. "And it might help the two of them take a step back and realize that they've been neglecting other things in favor of their relationship. For example, their friendship with you. _True_ friends shouldn't take advantage of each other like they did to you, and they should have noticed that the added responsibility was stressing you out."

"And they _also_ need to realize that going on dates was _not_ more important than their responsibilities," Mr. Dupain added. "If they wanted to do some extra dates, then they should have asked their parents first, then made sure that you had time to spare. But from what I've heard, they got one date a week normally anyway, which is _plenty_ at your age."

"But what if Alya finds out later and gets mad at me then for not telling her?" Marinette asked anxiously. She could see where her parents were coming from- Alya _had_ lied by omission first- but she just wanted to cover every possibility.

"Well, hopefully by then she would have cooled off a bit," Mrs. Cheng told her. "And will be more open to admitting that she should have been upfront with you in the first place." She leaned across the counter, placing her hands on Marinette's shoulders. "I know that we've raised you to always be responsible and honest. But you shouldn't be taking the responsibility of everyone else's mistakes on top of your own. It's important to recognize when you did something wrong versus, say..."

"Versus when someone overreacts or they put you in a bad position in the first place," Mr. Dupain finished. "In this case, it's the latter." He smiled at Marinette. "It's a good lesson to learn, at least."

Marinette nodded. Her parents' words made her feel a _lot_ better. "Yeah."

"And if you're busy or just need time to do your _own_ things, it's always okay to say no. Even to your friends. _And_ even to us and Madam Chamack," Mrs. Cheng added. "We don't want you to get overwhelmed and be sacrificing sleep or having your schoolwork suffer. That's your primary responsibility right now. Okay?"

Marinette smiled. School and sleep _and_ saving Paris from supervillains, actually, but she couldn't let her parents know about that second part. Not until Hawkmoth was defeated, at least. "Okay."

"We're proud of you for coming to us with this," Mr. Dupain said, resting a hand on Marinette's shoulder. "We know that you want to help others as much as you can, but you have to remember to save some of that time and energy for _Marinette_, too. You can't help others as much if you're too worn out and spread thin and not taking care of yourself. It's okay to tell other people that they're putting too much pressure on you and to enforce your boundaries when they try to push or claim that something will be _just the once_. Looking after yourself will _never_ be selfish, even if other people try to frame it that way. And if you ever need help yourself, it is more than okay to ask for it. You've given a lot to people around you, and helping is hardly a one-way street."

That was good for her to hear, Marinette thought as she burrowed into her parents' hug. Lately, sometimes taking time for herself had felt selfish somehow, even though she knew better. There was a lot of pressure on her to do the best in everything that she took on (and everything she was forced to take on), but even if she sometimes had superpowers, she was only human underneath it all. She would get overwhelmed and make mistakes and forget things, and that was _okay_.

She could finally breathe again.

* * *

_a/n:...did this end up wandering off-track to address Marinette's tendency to get too caught up in helping others and overworking herself? Perhaps. But it was related! And I wanted Marinette's parents to actually give her useful advice for once. Marinette doesn't HAVE to be the bigger person all of the time, not when it'll get her blamed for other people's mistakes._

_(I ended up deleting an additional scene/replacing it with the current last scene where Alya's mom comes to the bakery to talk to Marinette's mom and request a more specific list of how many times Marinette babysat for Nino and Alya to reimburse Marinette for her time, and then they end up comparing notes on Lila and the Mom Squad takes revenge, but it didn't really fit, so... have some parental advice instead.)_

_Like with most of my stories, this is a one-shot and is therefore complete! And as always, reviews make my day!_


	2. Bonus Chapter: Mom Squad

_A/N: Bonus Mom Squad chapter, as requested! I took the scene I had and expanded it a bit (okay, a lot)._

* * *

Marlena Césaire was on a _mission_.

No, it wasn't a mission to catch Alya in the middle of slacking off on her responsibilities, like it had been the night before. Her daughter had been caught red-handed and given a _very_ strict talking-to, though exact punishments were still being decided on. After all, Marlena and Otis didn't know exactly how long Alya had been getting away with her skipping (the younger kids were rather vague, though they let on that it had _definitely_ been more than a couple months), and, well, they didn't exactly trust Alya to tell them.

So now, Marlena was headed for the Dupain-Cheng's family bakery in search of a more _trustworthy_ source of information. Marinette would still be at school, of course, but perhaps her parents would be willing to take a message, or maybe they happened to know how long Marinette's babysitting had been going on.

Thankfully, she had timed her break perfectly with the bakery's afternoon lull, and Marinette's mom was sitting at the bakery's counter, reading a book. As Marlena entered, she looked up and smiled, tucking a bookmark between her pages and setting the book aside.

"Hi, Marlena!"

"Hi, Sabine," Marlena replied at once. She glanced around, making sure that there weren't any customers around. "Do you have a minute?"

Sabine nodded, not looking at all puzzled by the request. "I assume that this is about the whole babysitting thing?"

"Of course. I was quite surprised when Marinette mentioned it yesterday. It was pretty obvious that she didn't know that I wasn't aware of it."

Sabine managed a smile. "Yes, she was quite upset at lunch over the whole thing, which is when Tom and I learned about it. I just wished that she had mentioned it before, because she's been _so_ overworked lately. We would have put a stop to it, at least on her end. She wasn't sure if she should admit the mistake to Alya. We told her not to."

"That's a good idea," Marlena agreed. "Alya was clearly _really_ upset that she had been caught. Ridiculously so, considering that she was the one fully in the wrong, but she doesn't seem to see that yet. I would hate to see her blame Marinette for her punishment and have the two of them fall apart over this." She paused. "Am I correct in my assumption that Alya and Nino didn't pay Marinette for her time?"

Sabine sighed, nodding. "Yes, that's what Marinette said when we asked. And they kept springing the requests on her. Marinette hasn't had time to sit down and design like she normally does for ages now."

...well, _that_ was another thing to talk about with Alya. Her daughter _needed_ to recognize how she was affecting others. It was rude and selfish for her to be making requests of her friends that resulted in them not having _any_ free time and Alya- who had _plenty_ of free time to start with!- getting even more.

"If Marinette can come up with an approximate number of times that she's babysat Chris and the twins- or Chris _or_ the twins, I don't know what arrangements they had- and for how long, that would be great," Marlena said instead. Alya's selfishness and apparent tunnel vision when she wanted something needed to be discussed directly with her daughter, not with Mrs. Cheng. "We'll pay Marinette back out of Alya's allowance, and Nino's family will be doing the same. Both of them were getting raised allowances for babysitting, so it's only fair."

Sabine smiled. "That sounds like a good solution."

"Yeah. Alya's not happy about it, but I'm not particularly happy with _her _at the moment." That was an understatement, honestly, but Marlena wasn't going to linger on it. Alya had gotten that message loud and clear the previous night, when she and Otis had set Alya's grounding for a _minimum_ of a month, potentially extended out for however long Alya and Nino had kept the secret from their presents. That would mean a grounding of _several_ months, far more than they had _ever_ doled out for any punishment before, but if Alya actually showed remorse for what she had done and an understanding of how _wrong_ it was to take advantage of her parents' trust in her and her friend's kindness- well, that could potentially be shortened a bit.

Time would tell. At the moment, Marlena was leaning towards a longer punishment.

"Has Marinette said anything else about it? How long things have been going on, how long she normally babysat per night...?"

"Oh, for _months_, but she didn't say anything exact. She _did_ mention that Alya said that the idea came from her classmate _Lila_." There was distaste in the way she said that, Marlena noted, and _tha_t was interesting. "Marinette had questioned that, and from what she heard, Alya had been in contact with Lila and had been complaining about wanting more dates with Nino, and Lila was the one to make the suggestion that they give the kids to someone else and use that time for a date."

"The same Lila who I found telling tall tales to the kids when I got home, I assume," Marlena said, mentally thanking Otis for finding the seminars that he had signed Alya up for earlier in the day, focused on healthy relationships both romantic and platonic. At least one of them would be going with her to- well, the romantic one at the _very_ least, to make sure that they were enforcing whatever behaviors the instructor was encouraging (and discouraging whatever the instructor deemed unhealthy, of course), and possibly the friendship one as well to make sure that Alya was actually paying attention. The taking advantage of Marinette... well, that was something they just couldn't _not_ address. "The one cooking up some _ridiculous_ tall tales that she claimed were perfectly true."

"Precisely." Sabine was frowning. "I need to ask Marinette more about that girl. I could tell there was more there that she wasn't telling us, but we didn't have enough time to fully delve in before Tom and I had to get back to the bakery."

Marlena sighed. "_Alya_ thinks that Lila is a fabulous friend, but I've heard more than I ever want to about Lila's tall tales. That and the news that Lila was the one to encourage Alya to shove her babysitting off on Marinette...well, unless Lila's lied more, her mom works at the embassy. I've got a mind to go over there tomorrow during my break and have a word with Mrs. Rossi about what her daughter is up to."

"That sounds like an idea," Sabine agreed. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's being kept in the dark, too. Welcome to Tom and Sabine's!" she added to the customer who had just entered. "Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Well, I'll let you go," Marlena said, stepping aside so that Sabine could help her customer. "You have my number, so let me know what Marinette says. And after hearing how stressed Marinette was- let me know how much more Marinette's rates are for emergency babysitting versus her normal rates. She deserves the money, for sure. And she'll be getting whatever Lila would have earned, because _that_ girl certainly doesn't deserve it."

Sabine laughed. "All right. I'll try to have Marinette give me those numbers tonight and then I'll pass them on."

Marlena smiled, thanking Sabine one last time, and then she headed back out the door. She had to get back to work, and if she had any time to spare for a quick Google inquiry...

Well, one Mrs. Rossi would be getting a visit tomorrow afternoon.

* * *

At eight o'clock that night, Marlena got a text from Sabine Cheng.

_Sabine: I'd like to come along with you tomorrow. That girl threatened my Marinette._

* * *

Marlena swung by the bakery the next afternoon to pick up Sabine. When she stuck her head inside, she found Sabine by the door and a rather unhappy-looking Tom behind the corner.

"Tom wanted to come along, too, but _someone _had to watch the counter," Sabine told her as they left. "He was _quite_ angry about finding out everything that Lila has been doing and how much stress she's causing Marinette. Marinette has been trying to call out the lies but, well, Alya has apparently refused to listen and then Lila threatened her to try to get her to stay quiet."

"I'm not surprised about Alya," Marlena said with a sigh, leading the way over to the bus stop. "I wish I could say that I am, but I'm not. Otis and I talked to Alya more last night, and she accidentally let slip that when either she or Nino had babysitting to do and the other didn't, the one without anything would claim that they were going to another classmate's to study or work on a project and then the two of them would go on a date instead. So that's _another_ deception. And all Alya could say was that it hadn't _hurt_ anyone, so why was it such a big deal?"

"She's still not picking up on how much stress she was putting on Marinette," Sabine filled in, and Marlena nodded.

"That, or how big of a deal the lying is, _or_ how dangerous it could have been to have Lila babysitting, _or_ how making Marinette take care of three _very_ rowdy kids at once could have turned out badly." On top of that, Marlena and Otis had looked through Alya's texts- _not_ something they normally did or advocated doing, but the breach in trust rather warranted it- to see if there was anything else that she was hiding, and the texts that Alya had sent Marinette in response to finding out that Marinette couldn't make it... well, they were rather self-serving, less focused on Marinette's struggles and more on what Marinette could do for _Alya_. _That_ was going to get addressed.

Sabine only nodded.

The bus came, and they got on. It wasn't a long ride to the Italian embassy, and then they were heading for Mrs. Rossi's office. Marlena had set up an appointment the previous day to ensure that Mrs. Rossi would be free when they came, and considering how busy the embassy was when they stepped in, it had been a good idea. It didn't take long to find the office they were looking for, and then they were waved in to meet a politely puzzled Mrs. Rossi.

"It's nice to meet you," Mrs. Rossi said politely as the door shut behind them. She glanced at a paper on her desk. "Uh, which one of you is Mrs. Marlena Césaire?"

"That's me," Marlena said at once, stepping forward to shake hands. "And this is Sabine Cheng. Our daughters are in the same class as Lila."

"Is- is this really the time to discuss the girls?" Mrs. Rossi asked, clearly more puzzled than ever. "I mean, I _am_ at work right now, surely we could arrange to meet at another ti-"

"Your daughter has been _threatening_ mine."

"And she's been feeding all sorts of lies to her classmates and persuading them to behave poorly," Marlena chimed in, though she wasn't entirely sure that Mrs. Rossi had caught that, she was so busy staring in shock at Sabine.

"_Threatening_\- that doesn't sound like my daughter at all! She told me that people at school were very friendly and that she got along with all of them and-"

Marlena cut across before Sabine could say anything more. "Lila has been telling people that she's met all sorts of famous people and travels all over the world on a regular basis. According to Alya, she has _also _been claiming all sorts of ailments- arthritis, allergies, tinnitus that she supposedly got from saving Jagged Stone's kitten on an airplane runway-"

Mrs. Rossi had sunk back into her chair, eyes wide as Sabine picked up the list.

"She's gone on the Ladyblog as claiming that she was saved by Ladybug and now they're best friends. My daughter saw Lila deliberately knock over her classmate Adrien's book bag to steal an old book from him, which Lila later threw in the trash. If Marinette had not rescued the book and returned it, that would have resulted in Adrien getting pulled from the school by his father, which would have _crushed_ the poor boy-"

"Adrien? Adrien Agreste?" Mrs. Rossi demanded. She didn't even wait for them to nod before barreling on. "Lila told me that he was her boyfriend! That they started dating- oh, _months_ ago, back before the akuma attacks that shut down the school for so long!"

There was a long pause. Then-

"Uh, what do you mean, _shut down the school?_"

* * *

By the time Sabine and Marlena left, Mrs. Rossi had been brought up to speed on all that Lila had been up to and was on the phone with Mr. Damocles. Ms. Bustier was on her way to the office to join the call, so that they could discuss all of Lila's stories. She seemed quite stressed, but managed to wave to them on their way out.

"Well, I think that was rather successful," Marlena said cheerfully as they headed for the bus stop to ride back to the bakery. "We got apologies for Lila's behavior and from the sound of things, Lila will get rather thoroughly punished."

"And the principal is now aware of Lila's threats," Sabine chimed in. She was looking rather pleased as well. "So Marinette will _finally_ get her justice. I can't believe that she didn't tell Tom and I before. I rather hope that Tom hasn't decided to leave the counter to one of his helpers and storm the school in our absence," she added with a small laugh. "He was ready to head straight over last night when Marinette told us, never mind that it was late and the school was closed! And it took both Marinette and I this morning to convince him _not_ to tag along with her to school so that Lila wouldn't be able to threaten her again."

Marlena laughed. "I can just see him now, wedging himself between Marinette and Alya on their bench at school and acting like he's meant to be there. I'm sure Marinette is happy to know that you two are so firmly on her side, though. Even if Tom's reaction was perhaps a bit impulsive."

"I'm just concerned that she didn't come straight to us in the first place. Like, what did we say to make her think that she had to deal with it on her own? As much as I'd like to think that it's not something that we did but rather just her becoming more independent... well, I kind of doubt that that's the case." Sabine was frowning, concerned. "So Tom and I will be doing some reflection as well, I suspect. We certainly don't want to make Marinette hesitate to come to us with any problems she has."

"It _is_ concerning that she was getting threats and hadn't said anything," Marlena agreed. She sighed. "All this drama. I don't remember _my_ collège years being anywhere _near_ as- as-"

"Dramatic? Stressful? Crazy?" Sabine offered, then gave a little laugh. "And Marinette is doing commissions for famous celebrities on top of everything else, which is- it's _crazy_. We're so proud of her, of course, but it's still not something we _ever_ would have expected to happen."

Marlena smiled. She had heard about that and- well, it was _truly_ impressive. What was strange about it, though, was how crazy Alya had gone over Lila's stories about hanging out with celebrities when _Marinette_ was designing CD covers and posters and concert outfits for famous people. On top of that, Marlena had heard Jagged Stone referring to Marinette as his honorary niece more than once.

And somehow, Alya was impressed by _Lila_. At least those lies were going to be coming out today.

"Oh, before I forget," Marlena said suddenly, digging in her purse. She pulled out an envelope and passed it to Sabine, who peeked inside. "Checks from both our family and Nino's, to pay Marinette for her babysitting. We did time and a third because it rather sounded like the babysitting was getting forced on her when Marinette already had more than enough to do."

"They are _very_ generous," Sabine commented, tucking both checks back into the envelope and placing it carefully in her purse. "Wow. We'll take Marinette to the bank to deposit them this weekend."

"Yes, well, I think Marinette rather earned them." Neither Alya nor Nino would getting their allowance for a while to pay for it and neither were thrilled about that, but it sounded as though Nino at least had gotten to acceptance stage by the night before. Alya was more stubborn, though, so it would probably take her longer to accept responsibility for her actions. Marlena sighed at the thought. Dealing with haughty, demanding customers was the _worst_, but dealing with a stubborn teenage girl was pretty far up there, too. "I'll just be glad when all of this is behind us."

"Me too."

* * *

Marlena returned home that evening after the dinner rush to find Alya in what could only be described as a _mood _as she spluttered out the events of what had apparently been a _very_ interesting afternoon. Lila's mom had ended up going over to the school to meet up with their teachers and principal in person, and it had come out that Lila was lying and manipulating them for her own benefit. Alya was _steaming _because of the deception, but, well, still not for _quite_ the right reasons.

"I can't believe I posted that bucket of lies on the Ladyblog!" she was fuming, a fierce scowl on her face. "There goes my reporter's credibility! And she- _she_ was the one who told me to have Marinette babysit so that Nino and I could go on dates! This is all _her_ fault!"

Marlena sighed. Clearly the concept of _personal responsibility _was still eluding Alya.

"She wanted me to like her, and so she made me think that it was a good idea and that it would be _fine_ and- and-"

Nora snorted, glancing over the top of her textbook. "How _very_ unfortunate that you lost the ability to, oh, _fact-check_ things that went on your blog before posting them. And at the same time that you lost your critical thinking skills, too!"

"Why, you-!"

Marlena sighed again, exchanging a look with Otis as he headed over to try to fend off a fight between their two older girls. She had _hoped_ that they would have a peaceful evening, but it was looking like there wasn't much chance of that.

Across town, Sabine smiled as Marinette gushed about her day- Lila had been pulled out of their classroom mid-afternoon and hadn't come back. Rumors had buzzed around the classroom, unhampered by Mr. Haprele, who had stepped in to oversee the classroom while Ms. Bustier was out, and it wasn't until their last class that their teacher had returned and broke the news to them about Lila's lies. The news had been received with no small amount of shock by most of her classmates, and more than a few had apologized to Marinette for not believing her before.

Marinette herself had been called to the principal's office after school let out to give a statement about the threats that Lila had made towards her, and it sounded like the Italian girl wouldn't be returning to their school at all. In fact, it sounded like Mrs. Rossi was planning on sending Lila back to Italy to stay with her grandparents there as soon as possible, probably because Hawkmoth's presence in the city meant that there was an added note of danger to the whole situation- either Lila herself would get akumatized over being found out, or someone upset with her would. Removing her completely from the situation meant that Lila couldn't try to retaliate in any way, either by more lies or by accepting an akuma, and Marinette could finally relax.

Maybe nothing about the situation before had been ideal- Marinette's best friend taking advantage of her kindness and hiding information from her, the bullying, Marinette's absolute burn-out level kind of exhaustion- but Sabine personally thought that it had resolved itself rather nicely. There had been a lot of lessons learned, and now she and Tom would know to be on the lookout and ready to step in to investigate and offer a helping hand if Marinette started to struggle and get overwhelmed again, hopefully intervening _before_ it got to be too much.

And with any luck, nothing like this would ever happen again.

* * *

_a/n: The actual end now! I hope you enjoyed the bonus chapter ft. Marinette getting paid (a lot), more about Alya's punishment (to clarify, last chapter it was a one month **minimum **on the grounding and Alya knew that but wasn't even going to entertain the idea of her punishment being longer), and Lila's (offscreen) downfall._

_I hope you enjoyed Mom Squad! As always, reviews make my day! :)_


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